There’s so much we can do online 24/7. I wanted my
library to be that convenient and dynamic. Open source software allowed me to
take my library to my patrons.

By the time this
article is published, I will have had yet another pleasant and stress-free
holiday shopping experience. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I’ll have
avoided the traffic jams and the maddening crowds at the mall in favor of the
ease and comfort of shopping at home online. I save time, I can compare prices
with just a few clicks of the mouse, and the products I purchase are delivered
to my doorstep in a few days. And let’s not forget gift-wrapping either! It’s a
wonderful thing that I can shop at thousands of Internet sites that serve
millions of visitors 24 hours a day and not have to stand in long lines to
purchase gifts. I want my library to be convenient and dynamic like this. I
want to deliver services to my library users over the Internet and not require
them to visit the physical building.

I’m the assistant director of The Atlantic City Free Public
Library. Atlantic City is generally associated with casino gambling and the
Miss America Pa­geant, not with innovative libraries. As the person
responsible for the computer systems, I have been fortunate to be at the center
of many new and exciting computer-based services, including the ongoing
development of the Web site. Our approach is that library services do not only
have to be provided to customers walking into the building; they can also be delivered
to people in the comfort of their homes by using the Web. Beginning in October
2004, I ad­ded newer Internet protocols and tech­niques to push
information. We are sending library members e-mail about items that are coming
due or are overdue, as well as news of events that are scheduled to take place
at the library. We are using WebCalendar (a Web-based calendar application) and
Mambo (a Web site content management system) to achieve this goal of pushing
information. And like so many librarians these days, we are syndicating news
and information using RSS, and we’ve considered using podcasting and vidcasting
to send audio or video information right to the computer user.

The Atlantic City Free Public Library serves a diverse
population that represents a patchwork of people literally from throughout the
world. Our book and audiovisual collections include materials in the Spanish,
Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, and Urdu languages. Our
staff is a diverse group as well, both in age and ethnic origin. Employees
speak Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese.

The library is just beginning to come out of a long period
of budget constraints. The ups and downs of tax revenue in Atlantic City have
greatly affected our budget for the last 7 years. Thanks to the e-rate (or,
more precisely, to the Schools and Libraries Universal Service program and a
gift of computers, servers, and software from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation), we have been able to not just maintain but also to expand computer
services. The open source movement has also greatly assisted us in delivering
cost-effective computer services. Since 1995, I’ve used the Linux operating
system for our Internet server. I was lucky enough to have a local computer
company that had a Linux guru to provide maintenance and support, especially in
the system’s early days. Ten years later, I am still solidly convinced that
open source software can be cost-effective, secure, flexible, and very
powerful.

Our staff members are very aware of the shift in services in
libraries. During the ’90s, we watched as our book circulation statistics
steadily dropped. We are adapting to these changes and have managed to
stabilize these book circulation statistics. Like many libraries, we have shifted
our priorities to providing online databases and a subject page of links on
various topics on our Web site. We also provide e-books in our online catalog
and are about to experiment with delivering au­diobooks over the Internet
with Digital Library Reserve Overdrive Audiobook Project offered through the
South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative (a multitype organization funded by
the New Jersey Library Network). What excites me most in the digital world are
the open source LAMP applications that are just exploding onto the mainstream
of computer tech­nology. Previous issues of Computers in Libraries, especially the May 2005 one
focusing on Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, Perl, or Py­thon applications
(LAMP), show this growth. I have installed and am actively using several of
these software programs to enhance our computer services.

How
We Use Calendar Software for Outreach

WebCalendar is one such LAMP application. I installed and
incorporated this software into the library Web site in February 2005. It is a
Web-based calendar application written in PHP scripting language using a
database, in my case MySQL, to store event data. It can be configured as a
single-user calendar, a multiuser calendar for groups, or as an events calendar
viewable by visitors to your Web site. I chose the latter, using it as the
Atlantic City Library Events Calendar on our Web site.

The installation required using a combination of the
Web-based install wizard program and Linux and My­SQL commands. Everything
was very clearly documented in text files that were included in the tar ball
(compressed file) that I downloaded. Happily, Microsoft people can use this
software too! The most recent version has significantly improved the Web-based
install wizard so that there is very little need for using the operating
system’s command-level language. This is another benefit of using open source
software—the update cycle for enhancements and bug fixes can be
incredibly fast since many times users have direct access to the developers. In
fact, in June 2005, I downloaded an update to WebCalendar and discovered a
problem with one of the PHP scripts. I reported the bug on the WebCalendar
forum and got a patch from the developer within 48 hours.

WebCalendar is easy to configure using a Web-based interface.
Further customizing is relatively simple if you understand and have used HTML
code as well as cascading style sheets (CSS). For instance, I’ve added a custom
header to the look of the events calendar by adding HTML code and altering the
style sheet (see Figure 1).

I have written a procedure and trained staff members to
regularly enter events into the public access calendar using their Web
browsers. New events and newly edited events can appear instantly after they’re
saved, but I chose to have them approved first by the library administration
office. This serves two purposes: The entries are proofread and the events are
cleared by the administrative office before being advertised. I’ve also
configured Web­Calendar to use a built-in event conflicts feature so as to
avoid multiple entries and scheduling conflicts.

WebCalendar includes a few additional PHP scripts that can
enhance your Web site. I am using the script file “upcoming.php” to show the
latest upcoming events in a small frame on the library Web site (see Figure 2).The list of events
is linked to the database entries so that users can click on an event and see
detailed information. Text information can include HTML code including Internet
links using embedded images. I’ve used this functionality to show the image of
a guest speaker as well as to link to his Web site.

There is a very nice mini-calendar script included in the
software that I have yet to use. WebCalendar has an RSS script that will
regularly push the latest library events to a customer. This is a great way of
doing computer-based outreach to the community and some­thing that I
started using in June 2005. It’s one more way to deliver info to your patrons’
digital doorsteps. As part of this service, I created a Web page to explain to
users what an RSS feed is and to advertise the feeds that the library provides.
And I’ve included one of the standard RSS icons on our site to advertise that
we provide the service.

WebCalendar is compliant with iCalendar, which is a standard
for storing and exchanging calendar data used by Apple since the inception of
its OS X operating system. It supports publishing and network synchronization
and is further supported by the .Mac hosting environment. Microsoft started
support­ing iCalendar events in Outlook 2000, but only as “imports.”
iCalendar adoption and support are already in Novel’s Ximian Evolution client
as well as Mo­zilla applications. Using the publish.php file provided with
WebCalendar, you can upload and synchronize data between a library events
calendar and iCalendar-compliant software. I’ve imported a U.S. holiday file
from the Apple iCal library Web site into our events calendar to make the
library calendar even more appealing and useful.

Ringing
the Doorbell: Notifications via ILS

Many integrated library systems have e-mail components,
including the SirsiDynix Dynix Classic system that we use. I found setting up
the e-mail notification system in Dynix Classic to be very easy. The ILS sends
notifications to members when items are coming due, when they have a reserved
or interlibrary loan book being held for them, and when items are overdue. We
started this notification system more than 2 years ago and find that it saves
us money by not having to process burst mailers. Customers that choose to get
e-mail notifications receive them 24 hours earlier than they would via the U.S.
Postal Service system, and it is just very convenient for them.

As a Dynix Classic librarian, I belong to an ILS listserv
for iPac—Dynix’s Horizon Information Portal (HIP), formerly iPac. I was
excited to see that Casey Durfee, systems analyst for the Seattle Public
Library, had posted information about RSS feeds for the Sirsi­Dynix ILS. He
wrote a few Java serv­lets that you can patch into your HIP to allow
patrons to receive RSS feeds about what items they currently have checked out,
what materials they currently have on hold, and materials on specific topics or
subsets in collections like new DVDs. I implemented our feeds in June 2005 and
have found them to be a great way to offer a very practical and very useable
computer service with very little overhead. In keeping with my goals, this is
akin to not having to travel to the mall to see which DVDs have just arrived.

Let’s
Do the Mambo!

The next step in improving the library’s Web presence is to
build an entirely new Web site. By the time this article is published, you
should be able to see the results of our Web team’s efforts. The Atlantic City
Library is taking a whole new approach to its Web page by using the Mambo content
management system (CMS). Mambo is yet another LAMP that was created by Miro
International in Australia. Mambo open source is a powerful application that
facilitates the development, management, and sharing of content.

I found it easy to install and configure Mambo on my
existing Linux box. Since I was already using Apache Web Server, MySQL, and
PHP, installation involved copying the scripts to my server, then creating the
database and the users for the system. The latter part of the install is all handled
through a browser-based installation process much like the WebCalendar install
wizard.

Mambo consists of a Web-based front end—the public Web
site—and the Web-based back end—the administrative side of the site
(see Figure 3). By using the back-end interface, I created user profiles for
library staff members who were then able to log in to the library site and
create news, links by category, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and just
about any kind of content imaginable. This process of distributing
responsibility bypasses the middle person, the Webmaster. Management of the Web
site will be divided up so that librarians and the library public relations
person will have responsibility for adding, editing, and deleting content on
the site.

The design elements of the site will still be the
responsibility of the computer systems staff. Mambo comes with Web site
templates (similar in concept to word processing templates), and you can use
those or can create your own or download additional free and/or commercial
ones. Switching between templates takes just a few clicks on the Web browser
interface to Mambo.

There are more than 750 plug-ins in the form of components
and/or modules for Mambo available at mamboforge.net. Early this year, my
library plans to use the RSSXT component and module to provide content
syndication (RSS) so we can now send the latest library news and events to our
users via RSS feeds. We are also planning to use a mass mailer component to
send our bimonthly magazine “Discovery” directly to users who subscribe to this
service using the Web page. The library public relations staff member will also
be able to mass e-mail news on-the-fly if there is a special announcement to
make. And that’s not all! There are plug-ins available for blogs, Macromedia
Flash, and podcasts, and these are things that I will seriously consider trying
in the next year.

Leaders
in Delivery

The sky is the limit with these
computer tools. LAMPs like WebCalendar and Mambo CMS are providing me with a
means to attract Internet customers to the library. Now our services can
satisfy people like me, who prefer to go online and have things delivered to
their homes. No more requiring people to walk through our doors like the local
shopping malls. By using cutting-edge software, we are demonstrating to the
community that the library is a leader in new technologies and no longer just a
book repository. When properly utilized, the Internet can tran­scend the
limitations of physical space, supporting the freedom of imagination and
information on which the library profession is founded. The software that I’ve
described in this article can only benefit libraries by allowing their patrons
to take full advantage of today’s technologies.

The History of
RSS

RSS began in 1999 when Netscape created the first RSS, which
stood for RDF Site Syndication. This was soon followed by an XML-based
syndication protocol created by Dave Winer, founder of UserLand Software. RSS
feeds require an RSS reader software program or Internet browser that is
RSS-enabled. There has been a progression of RSS versions, so it is best to
select one of the newer packages since they are backward-compatible. The
current version of Microsoft Internet Explorer cannot receive RSS information,
so let me also suggest that you put that IE browser into retirement. The
Atlantic City Library staff uses Mozilla Firefox as the browser of choice, and
it can receive RSS feeds. Also note that RSS feeds are not just something for
your personal computer but can be used with a PocketPC or PDA.

Robert P. Rynkiewicz is the
assistant director at The Atlantic City Free Public Library in Atlantic City,
N.J. He holds a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University in
Philadelphia. His e-mail address is brynk@acfpl.org.